


Phone Calls Are Their Thing

by joxnerd



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Aletyler, All-Stars is wack, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, But that never turns out right for me and now it's a whole fic, But this isn't, Chris lowkey ships it and that's why he isn't stopping it, Duncan is a supportive ally and we have to stan, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mainly focuses on Alejandro's side plot, Phone Calls & Telephones, This was originally supposed to be a quick one shot, Total Drama: All-Stars, a fix-it of sorts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28880475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joxnerd/pseuds/joxnerd
Summary: After busting out of the robot, Alejandro finds himself on Wawanakwa Island having to compete on another season with no allies. With his mangled body and some hope left, he takes a risk to find one - if not the only - person that doesn't hate him.
Relationships: Alejandro Burromuerto/Tyler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Phone Calls Are Their Thing

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Aletyler Week Day 2: Angst + Comfort, except it's posted and written two months late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Episode 1: Heroes vs Villains

"What are you doing?"

The whisper startled Duncan as well as the person he had been carrying, Alejandro. He nearly lost his hold on the boy, before tightening his grip and turning to glare at the new arrival.

"None of your business, now scram."

"I think this is my business. At least, now that I've gotten involved."

"Grrr, Jo just leave us alone."

Alejandro sat and watched the argument in silent disappointment. This was supposed to be a quick 30-minute thing; Duncan was helping Alejandro sneak into Chris's mansion and get hold of a telephone. Any kind. Duncan kept questioning him about what he needed it for, as well as throwing around many insults, but he was the person here that had treated him the nicest thus far, so Alejandro had begrudgingly asked for his help. This wasn't turning out the way he had hoped.

"Maybe I should tell Chris that you're sneaking around in the middle of the night."

"You'd get called a tattletale."

"Who would dare call me that?"

"Me."

"Niños, I hate to interrupt this lovely argument, but Duncan and I were in the middle of something."

Jo scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Fine, I'll leave you be. But you better tell me everything, or else I'll convince the rest of the team to vote you out."

"Fine," Duncan scoffed.

"Fine," Alejandro reluctantly agreed.

Jo walked away, giving the duo a calculative glare as she left.

Alejandro sighed in relief, and Duncan carefully sat him down. Duncan pulled the pair of binoculars they had found up to his eyes and aimed them at the mansion strung out before them. There had been a time Duncan had stayed there, Alejandro supposed. It was where the losers went in the first season after they had been voted out, and since Duncan had gotten 4th place, Alejandro estimated he must have stayed there around a week. Duncan knew the layout - knew where a phone might be - and that was another reason Alejandro needed his help.

"Okay, so here's the plan. You see that door over there? If you enter through it, you should be met with a large hallway. You'll have to walk all the way down it, and then climb the stairs to the second story. The second door on the left should be the technology center, and that is where you'll find what you're looking for."

Duncan lowered the binoculars from his eyes and held them limply in his left hand. He turned to the Spaniard and handed the tool to the taller man.

"Thank you, amigo. This has helped me greatly."

"Are you gonna be okay getting in? Ya' know, with the whole leg problem?"

"It will be difficult, but I think I can manage."

Duncan nodded, and Alejandro raised the binoculars so that he could see. Gazing through them, he had a moderately good view of the mansion and could see the entrance point Duncan had mentioned. Clipping the binoculars to his belt, Alejandro flipped over so that he was standing on his hands. Duncan backed away to avoid getting hit and watched in concealed surprise as Alejandro sneakily made his way to the humongous building.

Oh, how Alejandro wished he was able to walk normally. However, his legs were still recovering from lack of use and the cramped confines of that robot suit. That experience, plus getting severely injured by hot molten lava, did have many lasting effects. The paralysis of his legs being one of them, as well as the extreme three-degree burns covering his skin. The first time he had been able to look in a mirror, he hadn't been able to recognize himself. The scarred tissue wrapped around his arms and his legs in white, leathery patches. He hated that this meant he lost; that José was easily one-upping him in looks. The burns were absolutely hideous, and would most definitely be permanent. Around and around his body, they never seemed to end. He would be made fun of him the moment he returned home, the very moment he stepped through the front door.

Alejandro tried to get to the mansion as fast as possible, so he could spend less time alone with his thoughts, and more time on the immensely important mission in front of him.

Arriving at the wooden door he had been racing towards, he first tried to open the door with his mouth. It took an embarrassingly long time for him to realize that was a stupid idea and was never going to work. Looked like he would need to get creative.

Alejandro surveyed his surroundings, searching for anything that might allow him to get inside. He came up shorthanded, and nearly gave up, but glanced back and saw what seemed to be Duncan's head popping out of the bushes. He had stayed. Why had he stayed? Duncan didn't care for him and would disapprove of what he was doing right now if he only knew. He had said it himself multiple times, that he was just helping him "so you don't bug me about it." It didn't make any sense why Duncan had stayed, and for some reason, this instilled him with newfound confidence. He wasn't going to let Duncan see him fail; he wasn't going to walk back to the delinquent with his head down, shame enveloping him on all sides. He wasn't going to let everyone that doubted him win; he wasn't going to let José be right about him. He knew what he wanted - what he was going to do - and he would get it. No matter what.

The now determined Alejandro got up from where he had sat down, and shakily made his way to the door, still balanced on his hands. He lifted one hand off of the ground, and successfully stayed balanced on the other. If he could stay balanced on one hand, then maybe he would be able to open the door with the hand that wasn't currently holding him up. He was able to stay balanced and turned the knob, excitement pulsing through his veins. Wait...why wasn't it opening? He turned it again. That same weird clacking noise and heavy resistance. Oh no.

It was locked.

Duncan was probably over there pissing his pants in laughter, and all Alejandro could do was slide to the ground in a mix of anger and disappointment. Of course, it wouldn't be this easy. Chris was a psychopath, but he wasn't a fool.

Alejandro sat there for a moment, knowing that now was certainly not the time for this, but not having enough strength to get up. He wondered if Duncan was still hiding in the bushes, so he unclipped the binoculars from his belt and raised them to his eyes. A peek was all he needed to see that, yes, Duncan was oddly still in the same position. He lowered the binoculars and smirked at his...could he even call him a friend? Probably not. Duncan smirked back, and made a hand motion, one that said "go back and get in or I will make fun of you for years to come."

He got up from where he was sat leaning against the door, but for a far more important reason than Duncan bullying him. Standing on his hands, he contemplated once more how he might get in. He searched his pockets while balancing on one hand but still came up with nothing useful. He had found chapstick, and while that was important and amazing at this moment, it wasn't something useful to his current situation.

Alejandro lowered himself back to the ground and applied the chapstick to his horrendously dry lips. His poor lips. His poor everything. He ached from being trapped in that stupid machine, and he longed for a nice, clean bed. Once finishing this task, he would get to relax in the soft linen sheets in the McLean Spa Hotel. Even though he longed to just quit, he couldn't. None of the other campers would ever realize how necessary it was for him to complete this mission.

He had gotten sidetracked, and if he didn't stop getting distracted, he would fail and humiliate himself in front of his only possible ally. Actually, the more and more he thought about it, Duncan wasn't an ally and probably wasn't even a possible ally. At best he was indifferent to Alejandro. After this little escapade, they would go their separate ways and forget the other's existence entirely. Matter of fact, there had to have been something Duncan could gain out of this; that was the only reason he could have agreed.

The Spaniard ran his fingers through his hair, a habit he did a lot when he was stressed. His hand brushed up against something different - something that didn't feel like hair, but something that wasn't completely foreign or weird to be in his hair. He jerked his hand away, before running it through the mangled locks once more. Was that...

A hairpin?

There was no way that he was this lucky. He took it out as soon a possible; he didn't have time to wonder how it had gotten there, he needed to act before he got caught. He rose on his hands once more and used his right to begin unlocking the door with the hair accessory. He remembered seeing someone do it on TV during a rainy Saturday morning when he had been younger. At the time, it had learned it for fun and had never expected to use the skill in real life. Well, here he was. Thank you rainy day.

The door unlocked with a similar clacking noise to the one Alejandro had heard earlier. He opened it a little bit with his raised hand, before planting his hand back down on the solid concrete of the patio. He bent his waist a little bit so that his legs brushed the door further open, and then traipsed right in.

Alejandro kept his eyes open for anything that might end him up in trouble. He was certain that security cameras were probably following his every movement, but he would deal with that when the time came. Chris and Chef were elsewhere, and it seemed no one was in the security room. All of this luck was weird, but this was clearly the universe giving him what he deserved after that terrible year in the Drama Machine.

Other than the security cameras, nothing else seemed out to get him. He continued down the dimly lit hallway, nearly tripping over his hands the entire way. He crept along with a caution; every second felt like a minute, every minute felt like an hour. Hours later - not legitimate hours, merely minutes that felt like them - he reached the staircase that Duncan had told him about. Now, this would be a bit more tricky.

Alejandro focused all of his concentration and all of his skill on auspiciously getting up the long, elegant staircase. At least he assumed it was elegant. He had never seen it, and probably never would.

After another few minutes that felt like hours, he had somehow managed to get to the top of the unnecessarily long staircase. What was it Duncan had said again? Two doors over on the left? On the right? He decided to check both rooms just in case.

He chose to visit the second door on the right side first. Being careful, like he always was, but especially here in unknown and dangerous territory, he edged along the wall to get to the plain wooden door. Taking a deep breath, he reached in with his right hand and swung the door open. He peeked his head in the doorframe and found that this was one of the bedrooms, not the technology center. Fine. This was fine. He'd just go over to the other door, simple as that. Except that a loud sound rang throughout the mansion at just that moment, startling Alejandro and causing him to wobble and then fall to the ground. He scraped his elbow on the floor, and winced, before pulling himself to hide behind one of the beds. He knew this wasn't a good hiding spot, especially if that was Chris or Chef, but it was the best one he had. It was in the silence that followed, the silence where he could feel the rapid pounding of his heartbeat, that he wondered: was it worth it? Was getting this telephone, so that he could make one simple phone call, worth it?

At the moment, hiding behind a large, expensive King sized bed and wondering whether today would be the day he died, it didn't seem like it. It wasn't until after, after he didn't hear anything and knew that no one had been there, did he remember what he would achieve by doing this. Closure. An ally. Someone rooting for him for once.

A friend.

He forced himself onto his hands and knees, and even then struggled to crawl over to the door. Stupid paralyzed legs. Inútil!

The door had been left open, and he decided to leave it open as he traveled over to the second door on the left. He didn't know if it was possible, but he was even more cautious this time. Turning his head to check every angle, even though he wouldn't be able to see something coming at him. Straining his ears for every possible sound; inching forward as slowly and quietly as possible. His heart was racing like crazy, and he kept gasping for air. The walk over to the door wasn't even that long; it was probably 10 feet at most, but he was being as apprehensive as he possibly could. He couldn't afford a simple mistake.

The 10 feet finally ended and he reached the door, opening it the exact same way he had opened all of the others. It came to a stop too close to the wall for his liking, nearly making a bang and leaving a nasty black scratch on the wall. He kinda wished he had let it; it would be funny imagining Chris's reaction to it. "Where the fuck did that black mark come from?! CHEF!!" He almost chuckled at the thought, before realizing where he was and the situation he had dug himself into.

He licked his still dry lips (the chapstick hadn't served its purpose), and infiltrated the technology room. Here he would find what he needed. It was here where he could get the closure that he wished for, find some sense of true happiness since he had busted out of that robot. All he needed to do was to find the phone and then dial the number.

And he did just that.

* * *

Alejandro Burromuerto was surprised that he had managed to find an actual smartphone and not some damaged fliphone. He was surprised that he had even managed to get this far in the first place. He was surprised that he remembered some number that he had been told a full year ago, in a random moment that hadn't been different from any other. But he had, and his fingers typed it in without hesitation.

He was sat in the bedroom he had accidentally stumbled upon, not being able to find any chairs or anything to sit on in the technology center. His legs hung limply off of the bed, and his hands were made into fists, balling the comforter up in between his fingers. His whole body was shaking with nerves, and he almost hung up, until he slapped his hand away before he made a huge mistake.

The ringing of the phone was the only thing he could hear, the only thing he could focus on. His heartbeat sped up once more, and he was taking short, quick breaths. When would he pick up? WOULD HE EVEN PICK UP?!

"Hello."

A sharp intake of breath once more. That voice.

He nearly cried, and it was stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid that the voice of a guy that he had been on a team with a year ago had almost caused him to cry when he hadn't done that this whole time. It was stupid that he was calling him in the first place. It was stupid that he had picked up. It was all stupid.

"Who is this?!"

If he didn't answer soon, the guy might hang up. He knew he needed to, to just force the words up his throat, but he couldn't. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He swallowed, but that was all that happened. There was silence for a few seconds before Alejandro's voice came out in a creaky, low tone.

"Hey."

"Wait? Is that...Ale...Alejandro?"

He smiled at the way Tyler pronounced his name, the way he struggled to say it. Alejandro leaned back against the pillows, nearly all of his anxiety having dissipated by now. Finally. Something else that was familiar.

"Yeah. It's me. It's me."

He could hear Tyler hesitate on the other end of the line, and it stayed silent for a few seconds more. Alejandro shifted on the bed, attempting to get into a more comfortable position. He pulled the chapstick out of his pocket and reapplied it. He pat a beat out on the comforter before it became apparent that he would have to start the conversation.

"How have you been?"

"Hmm?"

"How have you been?"

"Oh. You know..."

He did not know. How the fuck was he supposed to know how Tyler had been? He had been stuck in a robot suit for a year.

"Yeah, yeah. I do."

This was awkward, and he hated it. He wished he could go back to the days in World Tour where he was at the head of the competition and fooling everybody. He wished he and his team were at Newfoundland right now, riding in that boat and singing that song while he played the accordion. That had been one of the last times he had been truly happy, before this whole fiasco had happened. But, he wished for a lot of things, and most of them were never going to come true. 

There was an unanswered question hanging in the air between them, and Alejandro strained his brain to even remember if they had left off on good terms. Let's see: Tyler had rooted for him over Cody and Heather, he had chosen Tyler to help in the finale but Tyler had been too injured to. Alejandro had made it to the top of the volcano but was manipulated by Heather who had then kicked him in the balls. He had slid down the volcano on a giant piece of ice, and-

Okay, this was becoming more of a recollection of events leading up to now than remembering how he and Tyler had left off. They hadn't left off on bad terms, but certainly not the best. At least, in his expert opinion.

Silence continued to hang in the air, and Alejandro would have scratched an itch if he wasn't afraid it would make a noise, standing out in stark contrast to the lack of sound around them. At long last, someone spoke up.

"Dude, where have you even been? I don't even remember what happened, other than running off of the volcano."

Ah, yes. This question. He had been expecting it, but not this soon.

"It..it's difficult for me to talk about. Everyone trampled over me, and then the lava came sliding down the volcano and overtook me. After freaking out, Chris found me and...helped me? He put me in some kind of robot suit, and that's where I stayed for a year."

"A whole year?!"

Alejandro let slip a pain-ridden smile, and lightly rubbed the pale scars covering his right arm.

"Yes, and it wasn't very enjoyable. I do not recommend."

Tyler burst into sudden laughter, and Alejandro found himself smiling along. This had taken a turn for the better, and Alejandro was surprised it was going this well. He had thought Tyler would be mad, but maybe Tyler didn't realize he had been used. Maybe he didn't realize that Alejandro had never cared for him in the first place, and was only using him for his extra vote.

"Heh, so that's why you haven't answered my texts?"

Alejandro didn't know whether that was meant to be a joke or not. It was hard to tell over the phone, and hard to tell with Tyler.

"Yeah, that's why. Sorry, amigo," he nervously chuckled.

"So, why _did_ you call?"

"I guess I just needed someone to talk to that didn't hate my guts. I have to participate in the next season of Total Drama, and everyone here hates me. I can understand why."

"I don't hate you. Well, not completely."

"Thanks," Alejandro said with a completely deadpan facial expression. It didn't really matter though, because Tyler couldn't see him anyway.

"Oh! I just remembered that Lindsay's competing too! How has she been?"

"She called me Jalapeño, although other than not remembering people's names, she seems fine. Actually, I've been meaning to ask about that: how are you guys doing?"

Tyler didn't answer right away, and Alejandro felt like he already knew what was coming. He sighed, more out of boredom than anything else, and glanced up at the clock. 8:34 p.m. It was definitely dark outside; whenever he decided to leave, he would be concealed, but it would be difficult to see where he was going.

"We broke up."

Well, that was mighty blunt.

"May I ask why?"

"She got my name wrong in front of my parents, and yeah...things just went from there."

Alejandro would never say he was saddened by the fact that Lindsay and Tyler had broken up, but he understood the pain of failed relationships. He knew how difficult it was at times to accept, and because it didn't seem like either of them had wanted to break up, how terribly lonely it must feel. At the same time that he was feeling this, he was also feeling apathetic. They were just two dumb teenagers in love, of course it wouldn't work out. He also didn't care for either of them that much. Although, it did feel good to know that someone was on his side, even if it was Tyler, and that was why he was doing this.

"That's horrible. Listen, Tyler, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this short."

"Oh, ok. Could you keep me updated...ya' know, on what's happening over there? And call me back in a few days?"

"Of course. Goodbye."

Alejandro hung up. and just sat staring at the phone resting on his legs. The ticking of the clock as time continued on was the only sound filling the room. At the moment, Alejandro didn't know much, but he did know one thing for certain.

He knew he wasn't going to call him back.


End file.
